I wasn’t disappointed. CARROT is her usual psychopathic self, keeping you informed about both the weather and your own insignificance. Checking current conditions is quick – which is important – and entertaining, which is delightful.

Get The Weather, Quickly

Carrot Weather has been around on iOS for quite a while already, and is highly rated.

The Mac App store can feel like a wasteland compared to iOS – most developers move on to Android after finding success on mobile, not the Mac. So why make a desktop weather app? In Mueller’s telling, it’s because he couldn’t find one he likes:

“I wanted to hit a hotkey and have the weather pop up no matter what app I’m in – or even better, have the app tell me if bad weather’s coming my way without having to open it.”

Launch the app and CARROT will comment on the weather, out loud (turn this off later if you’re boring). She’ll also give you an overview of current conditions, along with an animation:

At the bottom you’ll see a summary of the day’s weather. Click any point on this timeline to see more information about a specific hour:

You can also toggle this view to show you the week’s forecast, if you prefer:

There are keyboard shortcuts for switching between modes – H for hourly, D for Daily, S for Short-Term – and you can use the number keys to quickly cycle through the full week’s forecast. All of this combined means you can browse everything you care about, quickly, while also getting a quick laugh (and, if you leave the sounds on, some weird looks from your co-workers).

If you prefer, you can use the menubar icon – or a universal keyboard shortcut – to launch CARROT’s Mini Window.

All the weather information you need is right here, complete with a shorter bit of snark. Even when the app’s not open it can inform you: notifications pop up whenever it’s about to rain, for example.

There are also morning and evening updates, so with CARROT installed there’s really no reason you should ever feel uninformed about the weather. The only thing missing is a radar map, which Mueller says is coming in the next update of the Mac app (there’s already one in the iOS app).

Personality Makes Everything Better

Climate is a complex system, well beyond the control or comprehension of humanity. Why not get weather updates from an equally powerful and unknowable AI?

As gimmicks go, it’s a pretty great one. I’ve no idea how many one-liners were written for this app, but it’s enough that I’ve yet to see the same thing twice.

Mueller, for his part, says his inspiration comes from the women in his life: “CARROT’s mostly based on my mom, my sister, and my wife. They all have sarcastic personalities and like to make fun of me a lot.”

Wherever this personality comes from, it’s hilarious. And, even though I know this is just a simple app, it really does feel as though a malevolent AI is reading me the weather. I’m not alone: CARROT has prompted more than a few users to share their favorite forecasts on Twitter – something I’m not sure many other weather apps can claim.

Adding a sense of humor to otherwise straight-forward apps doesn’t just help those apps stand out – it makes the experience better for users. Of course, CARROT takes all of this a little further than most apps, which can lead to some confusion:

Finding Easter Eggs

Speaking of personality: there are 30 hidden locations to be found, including everything from the moon to Mordor. Some can be unlocked simply by using the app regularly, but others require some effort. Being a lazy human meatbag, this seemed hard to me – so I asked Mueller for help.

“There’s a bunch of ways to unlock the secret location Easter eggs. Some unlock just by using CARROT over time, while others unlock by visiting specific cities. You can also unlock two of them with the time travel feature.”

Brian Mueller, CARROT’s Idiot Maker

Speaking of: there’s a time travel feature! This lets you explore the weather any time during the past 70 years, and also check “future” weather with varying degrees of accuracy. It’s not essential, sure, but it is fun.

Why Does This Cost So Much?

As previously mentioned: the Mac version of CARROT costs $10. Why so much, even when compared to the $4 iPhone version? Mueller says the difference is in running costs. Forecast.io API calls cost $0.0001, and the Mac app makes way more of these than the iOS version.

“With the Mac app, the weather is constantly being updated in the background, at least 24 times per day every single day of the year. So the costs associated with the Mac app add up a lot faster than the iOS app,” Brian revealed.

Justin Pot is a technology journalist based in Portland, Oregon. He loves technology, people and nature – and tries to enjoy all three whenever possible. You can chat with Justin on Twitter, right now.